is a retired

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

ka. Saito is from

Sapporo is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in Hokkaido, Japan. Located in the southwest of Hokkaido, it lies within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, a tributary of the Ishikari River. Sapporo is the capital ...

Hokkaidō is the second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by railway via the Seikan Tunnel. The ...

. He belonged to

Asahi Kasei is a multinational Japanese chemical company. Its main products are chemicals and materials. It was founded in May 1931, using the paid-in capital of Nobeoka Ammonia Fiber Co., Ltd, a Nobeoka, Miyazaki-based producer of ammonia, nitric acid ...

after graduation from Kokushikan University in 2000. Saito was good at Uchimata and

Newaza Grappling is a fighting technique based on throws, trips, sweeps, clinch fighting, ground fighting and submission holds. Grappling contests often involve takedowns and ground control, and may end when a contestant concedes defeat. Should t ...

in high-school days and was expected to get medal of

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

in the future. But he was not able to use the skill of them by the trouble of knee like

Anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during in ...

since 2000. In 2005, he won a gold medal at the Asian Championships and All-Japan Selected Championships with the skill that he learned newly like

Kata guruma is one of the traditional forty throws of judo as developed by Kano Jigoro. Kata guruma belongs to the third group of the traditional throwing list in the ''Gokyo no waza'' of the Kodokan Judo. It is also part of the current 67 Throws of K ...

Ōuchi gari is one of the original 40 throws of Judo as developed by Kanō Jigorō. It belongs to the first group, Dai Ikkyo, of the traditional throwing list, Gokyo (no waza), of Kodokan The , or ''Kōdōkan'' (講道館), is the headquarters of t ...

and

Kuchiki taoshi is a single leg takedown in Judo adopted later by the Kodokan into their Shinmeisho No Waza (newly accepted techniques) list. It is categorized as a hand technique, Te-waza. The technique was popularized by Kyutaro Kanda in 1926. Yaichihyō ...

. But he was not chosen as a Japanese representative at the

held in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

. He has coached judo at Asahi Kasei since 2010. Among his students is Tatsuki Masubuchi Yohei Takai and so on. His younger brother, is also famous judoka and won a gold medal at the Kodokan Cup in 2001.

Achievements

*1994 - All-Japan Junior Championships (-86 kg) ''2nd'' :: - Inter-highschool championships (-86 kg) ''3rd'' *1995 - Kodokan Cup (-86 kg) ''2nd'' :: - Inter-highschool championships (-86 kg) ''1st'' *1996 - Jigoro Kano Cup (-86 kg) ''3rd'' :: - All-Japan Selected Championships (-86 kg) ''3rd'' :: - All-Japan Junior Championships (-86 kg) ''1st'' *1997 - Kodokan Cup (-90 kg) ''2nd'' :: - All-Japan Junior Championships (-86 kg) ''1st'' :: - All-Japan University Championships (-86 kg) ''3rd'' *1998 - All-Japan University Championships (-90 kg) ''3rd'' *1999 - Kodokan Cup (-90 kg) ''3rd'' :: - All-Japan University Championships (-90 kg) ''2nd'' *2000 - All-Japan Businessgroup Championships (-90 kg) ''2nd'' *2001 - All-Japan Selected Championships (-90 kg) ''2nd'' :: - Kodokan Cup (-90 kg) ''1st'' *2002 - All-Japan Selected Championships (-90 kg) ''3rd'' :: - All-Japan Businessgroup Championships (-90 kg) ''1st'' *2003 - Kodokan Cup (-90 kg) ''2nd'' :: - All-Japan Businessgroup Championships (-90 kg) ''1st'' *2004 - Kodokan Cup (-90 kg) ''1st'' :: - All-Japan Businessgroup Championships (-90 kg) ''1st'' *2005 - Asian Championships (-90 kg) ''1st'' :: - All-Japan Selected Championships (-90 kg) ''2nd'' :: - Kodokan Cup (-90 kg) ''1st'' *2006 - All-Japan Selected Championships (-90 kg) ''1st'' :: - Kodokan Cup (-90 kg) ''1st'' *2007 - Jigoro Kano (-90 kg) ''3rd'' :: - All-Japan Selected Championships (-90 kg) ''2nd'' :: - Kodokan Cup (-90 kg) ''1st'' *2008 - All-Japan Businessgroup Championships (-90 kg) ''2nd'' *2009 - All-Japan Businessgroup Championships (-90 kg) ''2nd''

References

Japanese male judoka Sportspeople from Sapporo Martial artists from Hokkaido 1977 births Living people 21st-century Japanese sportsmen {{Japan-judo-bio-stub